there, too. it's also cranking up thanks to jeb bush who met with a bunch of former aides a block away from the white house. and, by the way, another potential candidate in studio with us this morning, virginia governor bob mcdonnell. good morning from washington. it's tuesday, november 27, 2012. this is "the daily rundown. "i'm chuck todd. the next few weeks are going to feel repetitive. lots of public posturing and little change. there will be one flash point every day or so that might grab headlines but ultimately they won't matter much in hindsight. and then around friday, december 14, something will begin to break. so goes the story that is the fiscal cliff. the president is stepping up his outside game with events this week to 0 build public support. some call it posturing for his preferred combination of tax ineeses and spending cuts. a contrast from how the white house conducted itself during the 2011 debt ceiling standoff. ultimately this fight comes down

to another number, 218. the number of house votes needed for a deal. and it's not clear that his efforts will persuade 100 to 120 house republicans who are needed at a minimum for boehner to get a deal done to get to the 218 overall. remember these republicans believe just as fervently as the white house does that they have their version of public opinion on their side. why can do we think this? when it comes to their own voter, both sides are right. the president won re-election fairly handily, but so did republican incumbents in the house. these are some stunning statistics that gerrymandering has created. 93% of the 205 house republicans who ran for re-election won. 88% of them won with 55% of the vote or more. the president received between 51% and 52% of the vote. once the votes are finally all counted. and even though everyone in washington may be saying the right thing, those facts make forging a deal structurally very difficult. on monday senator dick durbin admitted what we've been hearing behind the scenes.

very little has been accomplished on negotiations on the staff level. >> now for ten days not much has happened. there's been a big thanksgiving break. a lot of turkey and stuffing. but now let's get back to business. >> although the white house said they remain optimistic, there doesn't appear to be a plan for another leadership meeting until progress is made between the white house team negotiating a deal that's led by secretary geithner but the house republicans, specifically in boehner's shop. in the meantime, to create the appearance of momentum behind his plan, the president is stepping up his schedule, will hold a meeting today. the white house, 15 small business owners from the retail health care transportation and construction sectors. tomorrow ceos for the second time in two weeks go into the white house. middle class americans from around the country who the white house says will suffer if no deal is done also come to the white house wednesday including people who respond ed to an

e-mail from senior adviser david plouffe. then friday the president goes outside the beltway, travels to montgomery county, pennsylvania, to tour manufacturing facilities for a toy company that makes angry bird building sets among other things. just in case the grinch who stole christmas wasn't already clear. trying it to capitalize on that robust stoo robust start, the white house issued its own report warning the economy will sink if the impasse isn't resolved. >> i think evidence like this is one reason why retailers are so concerned that congress has not yet extended the middle class tax cuts. >> house republicans have their own dueling public opinion events planned, if you will. the house gop leaders will meet with ceos on wednesday that are part of a group called the campaign to fix the debt founded by erskine bowles and allen simpson. this is a move, by the way, boehner is embracing it in a way he didn't a year and a half ago. bowles will be there in case

voters forgot the plan that included $800 billion in new revenue, aka taxes, the amount boehner put on 0 the table last summer, less than the $1.6 trillion the president is calling for. both the white house and boehner face pressure from their own bases that will make compromise more difficult. it's unclear what the white house means when they say entitlement reform. jay carney made it clear what that phrase does not mean. when you say entitlement reform, does that mean social security? sometimes you've meant medicare and medicaid. >> i refer to health care programs and i think the president has long made clear that he is open to discussions about strengthening social security as part of a separate tract. we should address the drivers of the deficit and social security is not currently a driver of the deficit. >> they made that abundant ly clear. when they say entitlement reform it does not include social security and what they define it

as. grover norquist is having to defend himself after several prominent senate republicans indicated a willingness to break his famous pledge, arguing republicans who agree to tax hikes just like they did under president bush. >> it is important that the republicans don't have their fingerprints all over the murder weapon, their fingerprints all over a lousy budget deal with tax increases and no real spending, just as happened to republicans in 1990 which cost us the presidency in '92. >> "the wall street journal" defends norquist today writing, quote, the voters are smart enough to know that republicans who focus on mr. norquist are part of the problem. interesting calling out those republicans by the wall street editorial. norquist is a bit of a media creation. remember this. he's an easily digestible symbol of ideological purity. the people who actually police

that purity are groups like the anti-tax, pro economic growth club for growth. it's barely been three weeks since senate republicans wrapped up another losing cycle where thanks to candidates like missouri's todd akin or indiana's richard mourdocks they failed to knock off a single democratic incumbent and already it's deja vu all over again. shelly capito is experienced, popular, deep roots in her home state. and before the democratic incumbent jay rockefeller had time to criticize her, barely an hour after her news conference, it was conservative groups who began to attack her. helped richard mourdock take down indiana republican senator richard lugar, the first with a press release saying her candidacy will undoubtedly be cheered by the g 0 op establishment. congresswoman capito has a long record of support of bailouts, pork and bigger government. quickly followed saying capito

is too liberal for them to support. quote, there's no question that congresswoman cap toe is well known in the state and is favored by the washington establishment. they know she won't 0 rock the boat when it comes to cutting deals with democrats to spend money we don't have. freedom works which has given capito a 61% lifetime voter rating said an endorsement would not be, quote, automatic. conservatives aren't happy with her votes for the auto bailouts. west virginia, remember, is still, to put it bluntly, a pork state. robert byrd made it famous but republicans and democrats alike vote to bring federal dollars to west virginia. capito has voted to extend unemployment benefits and as a defender of the state's children's health insurance program. she supports abortion rights but she just won a seventh term with 70% of the vote. in an august poll gave her a four-point lead over rockefeller. the question confronting republicans right now, do they place a premium on electability

on ideology? it's a debate that hasn't been settled inside the g 0 op as we saw shockingly yesterday. the 75-year-old rockefeller hasn't said it if he's running again. told politico, i'm definitely going to make a statement about that. but not yet. the woman who could replace secretary of state hillary clinton, susan rice, heads to capitol hill for a closed door meeting with three of her toughest republican critics as she attempts to explain her comments about the benghazi terrorist attacks, a move that could signal the president is planning to go ahead with rice's nomination. late monday mccain told nbc that rice's office requested today's meeting with him, senators lindsey graham and kelly ayotte. they've been conciliatory gestures on both sides the past few days. >> i do think that some of the statements he made about me have been unfounded, but i look forward to having the opportunity at the appropriate time to discuss all of this with him. >> i give everyone the benefit

of explaining their position and the actions that they took, and i'll be glad to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with her. >> in one sign of the seriousness with which the white house takes rice's defense acting cia director mike morell will accompany her on those senate meetings. remember it's mike morell who wrote the unclassified talking points from the intelligence community that rice was briefed on to use publicly for the sunday talk shows. last night on fox news graham said he intends to ask rice some very direct questions. >> she asked to meet with us, and i will listen to what she has to say about her role in benghazi. i can tell you this, the more i know about benghazi, the more upset i am that the consulate was even open on september 11. the more i look into what they were telling us on the 16th, the 18th, and the 25th, are days after the attack, the more it sounds like a political

smokescreen rather than a confused situation. >> mccain told nbc news the following. my concerns are obviously that she told the american people things that were patently false. people don't go to demonstrations with mortars and rocket propelled grenades. ayotte said the meeting is crucial to determine whether rice is fit to be secretary of state. quote, i would hold the nomination until sufficient answers regarding the benghazi attack are given. by the way, "the new york times" points out today that we've observed here that losing lieberman robs the three amigos of their veneer of b bipartisanship. as lieberman observed, i think john mccain and lindsey graham will be leaders on foreign policy but their voices would be stronger if they were part after bipartisan group. so they haven't found a third democrat to join them. now to another story and it's something that could just change the equation again in the middle east in a way that i think we don't quite realize yet. forensic experts entered the tomb of palestinian leader yasser arafat early this morning. as part of an effort to solve an

eight-year-old mystery surrounding his sudden death. martin fletcher is live for us in> ramallah with the latest. martin, the great mystery here has to do with was he poisoned? i know this has been circulating. i guess what we're all concerned about here, what i'd be concerned about and i imagine you are, what if they find evidence that he was poisoned? then what? >> reporter: well, that's the request question, chuck. what exactly. the palestinians have been claiming if he was poisoned there's clearly only one possible culprit and that would be, of course, israel. that is still to be proven, to be proven whether he was even killed at all, whether he died of natural causes. so here at the shrine behind me in ramallah yasser arafat's shrine today the experts from russia, france, and switzerland join the palestinians in taking specimens of yasser arafat's remains. they're going to study those specimens in their laboratories in their countries. they say it will take three

months to get a full result. and then they'll know how he died. now the claims that he was murdered, if he was murdered, he was poisoned, became -- well, you know, for eight years, no one really dealt with the issue until al jazeera tv earlier this year did a documentary reporting that they have confirmed that he died of poisoning of plutonium 210, the same allegedly used to kill a spy turned can dissident. if he was poisoned with with mew tone yum, who did it? if it turns out he was poisoned, they need to find out who did it and that's a whole different investigation. i guess it becomes a criminal investigation as opposed to this kind of medical examination. >> and, martin, who is doing this investigation right now? who is in charge of this decision to exhume his body? >> reporter: well, you know,

there was great pressure after that al jazeera documentary on arafat's wife to release whatever possessions she had and to give permission to do this analysis. it's a sensitive thing for palestinians. the palestinians say they're the lead investigators. no one is really going to trust the palestinian results on this issue. so they're joined by investigators, as i mentioned earlier, from switzerland, france and russia. they took 20 specimens from arafat's body. each of those three cup tries will take one of those specimens. 20 specimens divided into three, they're all going to independently research what was the cause of death. as i mentioned it is so sensitive when there was a press conference by palestinian officials. they took great pain to point out that no one today touched his remains except palestinians. it's very important kind of point of honor, if you'd like. palestinians are leading the investigation, the actual results will be by outsiders, chuck. >> well, it could be a tinderbox

and already everybody is on edge. martin, thanks very much. up next, back domestically. governor bob mcdonnell is leading the charge to revamp their national message. is he also setting the stage for his own run in 2016? some questions we'll be asking him. plus, foreign exchange, president obama will get a visit from our next door neighbor today. mexico's incoming president is coming to town and he wants to talk about more than just the drug war. the drug war is a big deal. first we'll look ahead at the president's schedule. we can tell you what he's doing. a quick photo spread. no joint press conference. can i help you? i heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. that's right. i've learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot?

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in the three weeks since election day there's been a lot of republican hand wringing, party leaders looking to expand the tent, track more women, minorities to the party and find out how to find a happy medium between ideology and electability. joining me now is someone trying to be at the forefront, virginia's republican governor, these term limits, so you can't run. >> right. >> let me start quickly on that. every four years there is this chatter in the state of virginia that maybe the world's dumbest term limit law will get repea d repealed. is there any progress on that? are you ready to sign that bill saying, hey, i'm not going to seek it but for the next governor there should be re-election? do you believe there should be re-election? >> people ought to have a choice. there's 26 years in a row the constitution has attempted to be

amend amended by the legislature. it's failed every year. i think it's time to create a choice for the people. >> do you think that this has hurt -- are there things you can't get done because you get turned into a lame duck governor too quickly? when do you feel the politics makes it harder for you, for any sitting governor? >> some of the media it's about a month after you get elected. no, but, what it does do, it creates a real sense of urgency to get things done. it creates the freedom to do what you think is right. >> so that's the upside. >> the down side is i think sometimes you see more power to the legislature but also to appointed officials within the administration that go from governor to governor. so i think on balance we ought to join every state in the union and give people a chance to re-elect them. >> you held -- i thought it was very noteworthy that within a day after the election you held your own press conference to give your take on what happened this election. >> yes.

>> so tell me how much -- there's sort of three places -- three boxes of blame, if you will. one is on the candidate, on mitt romney, one is on the campaign, and one is on demographics, the messa message. >> you win and lose as a team. i know that from several elections i've been fortunate to be on the winning team more often than not, but we have to look at everything we did from logistics to turnout to technology to message to tone. when you lose, it's not a good feeling. and we're disappointed, but we're not discouraged. look, chuck, we won 30 governors races in the last couple of years going from 22 to 30. republican governors have got it right in the states with the result, a positive idea driven message. that's where the leaders, i think, are the future of the party are going to come from. so we're winning there. the last three years we won in virginia pretty well, up until this year losing a close election. >> is there a problem the party -- it feels like i'm living deja vu. the democrats were the party that would win when not

everybody showed up to the polls. when everybody shows up to the polls in a presidential election, republicans would win. well, in the -- now it seems like it's different. >> that's true. >> so what's the solution there? >> look, you look at the last 40 years, republicans have won hatch the presidencies. democrats have won half. we're still a center right country. people still vote primarily the issue. they vote the message more than the party. i think we've dwt to do a much better job on the tone of our campaigns and in the way we communicate with new voters. our ideas, i think, on small business, entrepreneurship, on limited government, lower taxes, these are still the messages that work. >> you talked about tone. i want to play something john mccain said on the issue of abortion. i'll ask you about it on the way out. >> i don't think anybody like me -- i can state my position on abortion, but to do other than that, leave the issue alone.

i would allow people to have those opinions and respect those opinions. i'm proud of my pro-life position and record. but if someone disagrees with me, i -- >> is the republican tent big enough to have pro-choice republicans? >> well, sure. but it's still a pro-life country. you saw the gallup poll. >> the standard-bearer of polling these days. there was a virginia exit poll, 2-1 margin people called themselves pro-choice. you have the high profile ultrasound bill. i know you weren't supportive of it but there was criticism that your party didn't get rid that have bill soon enough. >> chuck, if we capitulate, we are a pro-life party. that's pretty obvious. but this election is decided on economic issues, spending and debt and on other issues. i'm very pro-life. everybody knew that when i ran and i won by 18 points.

they embraced my views on job creation, economic development. >> should you not campaign on it as much or do you disagree with john mccain? he said my position is my position, but he seemed to be hinting that shouldn't be one of the -- >> everybody knows that both courts and legislatures are going to determine what the policies are with regard to life and family and marriage and all these social issues that define who we are with the people. obviously we're focusing in virginia is on the things that re really matter, the kitchen table issues. debt retucks, retirement reform, these are the things people are going to vote on but the republican party will remain a pro-life party. >> you say those issues in virginia, i thought it was interesting that you put out a statement on gaza. >> i did. >> last week. >> yes. >> and the first thing i thought was, this is a man who might be thinking about something else besides running -- wishing he could run for governor in the state of virginia. >> i would love to run for governor. >> are you thinking about running for national -- >> i'm focused on 2013 and

getting a lot of things done in my last session. i went to a trade mission and met with president peres. a big jewish population in virginia. i love israel and when they're attacked by a terrorist group, i'm going to stand up for israel. >> is it fair to say you are somebody who would like to be in the conversation in 2016? >> i think it's fair to say that i think conservative prips govern best and i would like to have some role as governor going forward to make sure we have conservatives in every level of government. >> you're an alumnus not of uba or virginia tech but notre dame. >> i am. >> you play alabama or georgia? >> it doesn't matter. we have the best defense in the country. we have a lot of spirited kids with a lot heart. i'm sorry we had to beat miami. either one, i think it's going to be a great game. >> thanks for coming and oh, i forgot to ask you one other

question. are you supporting bill bawling? >> i told him i would support him. >> you're sticking with it? >> he's a good men. he has helped us create jobs. >> are you worried about a divisive primary? >> look, primaries and conventions are about choices. once we finish those, we get back and try to win. >> all right, governor bob mcdonnell. >> thanks. >> you've got it. good news from greece, will it offset worries about what's going on here in washington and the fiscal cliff? the market rundown is next. a member of obama's financial team is out. and a big name governor says he's in. clashes in cairo as egypt's president continues to push the limits of his power. but first today's trivia question. who holds the record as both the youngest and the oldest governor ever in his state's history? wanna see me get some great deals?

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on the "morning radar" a gub in a torial kickoff in the garden state. the first special election for a house seat gets a date and the s.e.c. gets a new chair. but first to egypt. you are looking at live pictures here of cairo's tahrir square. this is not a rerun of 2011. opponents of president morsi are rallying for a fifth day. the crowd is expected to grow as the day goes on. but one person has already been killed. hundreds of others have been injured. meanwhile, morsi supporters canceled their own rally they planned for today citing the need to defuse tension. demonstrations supporting the president could go ahead outside of the capital.

back at home new jersey governor chris christie has made it official, he's running for re-election. he filed papers yesterday, told reporters that he wants to stay on the job to help sandy torn new jersey through the rebuilding and recovery. it's unclear who his democratic challenger will be. some speculated mayor cory booker or state senator richard coady cody. cory booker probably would head that list and that's been the talked about speculation on that front. a date set to fill the u.s. house seat left open by jesse jackson jr.'s resignation. the general election is set for march 19. running among other names mentioned contenders are jackson's wife, sandy jackson, hutchinson, and illinois state senator napoleon harris.

after four years under the chairmanship of mary shapiro, the securities and exchange commission will get new leadership. shapiro became the first woman to lead the s.e.c. announced she will leave her post. by the way she is getting rave reviews from "the wall street journal," t"the washington post" you name it for revitalizing the s.e.c. as a regulatory agency with potential death. the white house has named current s.e.c. commissioner elisse walter to chair the agency going forward. walter can serve through december 2013 but then the president must name a permanent successor who must be approved by the senate. the commission will have a party split so there may be pressure for the president to appoint somebody more permanent more immediately. a long, drawnout fiscal cliff negotiations aren't to go the market any favors. becky quick is here with the market rundown. becky, i'm just thinking, how is the market going to handle what i'm sorry to say is going to be

a very repet it tiff next couple of weeks? none of the real deal making is happening. >> reporter: there's some serious issues out there. we had roger atman on the show. >> potential treasury secretary. >> reporter: a former deputy secretary. he said, look, we could be in for some really rough riding over the next several weeks. if you get up towards december 15 and beyond, if there's not a deal, his guess is the equity markets will react much like they did back during t.a.r.p. i don't know if you remember that but when the house was expected to pass t.a.r.p. it was brought to the floor and voted it down. the market's instantaneous reaction was to drop 800 points. he thinks we would see similar moves like that and that would be what would put pressure on both sides to kind of come together and come up with some sort of a deal. so he's looking at a replay of this if they can't get together sooner than that. he thinks that's what would be bringing in the pressure and, chuck, we have been getting some numbers today that show you when you dig into them how there are

already some concerns out there. we have durable goods orders and they were flat for the month of october. that was better than had been expected because in september we saw a huge number. we thought we'd see a drop. but there was a number within. the shipments of nondefense capital goods, ex-aircraft. that sounds like a big, con voe is lu convoluted term. that's one number people are saying you can see businesses getting concerned about the fiscal cliff and maybe this is where it's showing up. >> well, we'll be watching. we'll see. i know all of the ceos just want certainty. that's what they keep telling the white house. thank you much. the forgotten war, we're going to take a deep dive into the challenges and the changes in the u.s. relationship with mexico.

well, the foreign policy challenge no one is talking about and, by the way, it's one that's killed nearly ten times as many people as the wars in iraq and afghanistan combined. today we're taking a deep dive into the drug war in mexico and the u.s. role in it. a key focus of the meeting between president obama and mexico's president elect pena nieto. the merida initiative began under george w. bush and then mexican president calderon as an aid program to help mexico disrupt drug cartels and improve law enforcement. the u.s. helped train federal police and sent equipment to

mexico including helicopters and patrol planes. the results, though, have not been encouraging. going back to the end of 2006 when president calderon ordered a massive crackdown, one paper estimates more than 57,000 people have been killed in violence linked to organized crime and the drug war. other estimates reached 60,000. that figure includes scores of police, local officials, journalists, innocent bystand s bystanders. 84% of the municipalities have been affected by drug-related violence. in the spring of 2010 secretary of state hillary clinton visited mexico city and admitted the u.s. is part of the problem when it comes to fueling the country's $29 billion a year drug trade. >> we know that the demand for drugs drives much of this elicit trade, that guns purchased in the united states, as we saw some of the examples outside, are used to facilitate violence here in mexico. and the united states must and

is doing its part to help you and us meet those challenges. >> in the fall of 2010 as the merida initiative expired, a major renewal and expansion of the program emphasizing support from the courts, border security and stronger mexican communities. nevertheless the violence continued unabated. in the runup to a meeting with president obama in 2011 president calderon blamed the administration for not keeping promises, calling it knnotoriouy insufficient. what do americans need to cooperate on? in reducing drug consumption but they aren't haven't reduced it and putting the stop to the flow of arms but they haven't reduced it. it's increased. all of thises has fueled a furious debate inside mexico whether the drug war is even worst the cost? the public seems to provide its answer. when it elected nieto who ran on a pledge to improve lick safety as opposed to going head-to-head with the cartels. despite that president elect

nieto says he will press ahead with the drug war and maintain close ties with the u.s., but members of congress have their doubts. here is what the head of the subcommittee on crime and ho homeland security said. >> drug shipments or kingpins. he further emphasized that his priority would be a reduction in violence, not a dismantling of criminal organizations. by all accounts this sounds like a reversion to the prepolicies of old. >> he was referring to the pri which, of course, is one of the largest and oldest political parties in mexico. joining me now is mexican's former foreign minister, an msnbc expert on latin american policy. jorge, nice to see you. >> good to see you, chuck. >> let me ask you straight up on the drug war, what was nieto's mandate from the mexican people when it comes to the war against

these drug cartels? >> well, the election results are pretty clear. outgoing president calderon's candidate got 25% of the vote and came in third so the voice of the voters was relatively clear. we don't want more of this war. they did indicate what they didn't want. no more bloodshed. no more war. no more enormous efforts being made to interrupt drug shipments to the united states which fuel a market in the u.s., by the way, which is becoming increasingly legal, chuck, as we saw in washington state and colorado a couple three weeks ago. >> now you bring up an important point on this legalization movement and i wanted to get to it in a few minutes but i want to go back to sort of the domestic politics of mexico a little bit. what is nieto's ask going to be and does he want the merida

finish teti inviolabilii finiinitiative going to continu? >> well, i think he certainly will want some form of extension of what was called the merida initiative and will get a new name now. not so much in terms of money. the money involved was never very much given the size of the mexican economy. it was more a symbol of greater u.s./m u.s./mexican cooperation and i'm sure pena nieto wants that to continue and to even improve. i think he will also ask president obama, though, that the u.s./mexican relationship should not just be restricted to drugs and security. that there are other very important issues whether those are economic ties, et cetera, or immigration reform which becomes more likely or less unlikely than before the election. so i think the main point pena nieto will try to get across to president obama will be no more just drugs. let's talk about other things, too, and perhaps not only -- no

longer place drugs at the top of the agenda. >> and mexico's economy has actually been turning a corner, has it not? >> it's been doing better, the last few years. we had a very rough year in 2009 like the entire world did. >> sure. >> since then we've been doing more, better and better, the mexican economy is growing at 3.5% to 4%. doing better than brazil, by the way, the last couple of years. most people think brazil is sort of the hot eitem. it's actually not entirely true. and i think a lot can be done between mexico and the united states to make both countries and canada, by the way, be more competitive. infrastructure, energy, a series of issues on which the -- when both president obama and republican candidate governor romney spoke about north american energy independence, well, that means mexico, too, by definition. >> i have to ask you about the return of the pre. i'm an amateur watcher of mexican politics.

when they were ousted, it was this thought of corruption had eaten at the core of the party and a lot of the public had soured on the pri. they're back. is it a new pri or are we going to see some of the old guard come back to power? >> i'm sure we will see some of the old guard come back together pena nieto and we'll see new faces. the main point, chuck, i think, though, is that mexico has changed. maybe the pri hasn't changed but mexico has. it is not the country of the 1980s or 1960s. this is not a country where there's no congress, where there's no media, where there's no unions, where there's no opposition or civil society. mexico has changed enormously these last 15 years. i think for the better. and so even if they wanted to go back to the ways of the past they couldn't and pena nieto probably doesn't want to. he seems to be a young forward looking fellow and i think he will try to do as best he can without all of the old guard but we'll see a bunch of old hacks

with him inevitably. >> all right, jorge, thank you for coming on this morning. a former foreign minister there in mexico. good to see you. coming up, where the sidewalk ends and the fiscal cliff begins. our political panel will be here next. but first, the white house soup of the day. here it is. i don't have a lot today. herb swiss chard and feta. you know my philosophy on feta. if you can put feta on something you always a make it better. don't forget to check out the website. some day we're going to start including recipes on there. wasn't my daughter's black bean soup spectacular? [ man thinking ] oh, this gas. those antacids aren't working. oh no, not that, not here! [ male announcer ] antacids don't relieve gas. gas-x is designed to relieve gas. gas-x. the gas xperts.

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congress is back from their thanksgiving break and now have

just 34 days before the economy goes off the so-called fiscal cliff. so can they come up with a deal sooner rather than later? joining me now msnbc contributor and political he heditor perry n jr., former republican governor of maryland, bob erlich, and what we just learned here at the table during the break, governor erlich, you are a member of congress and you were bragging about the fact -- >> i'm not a big fan. >> you do not sign pledges. you said you never did and you never signed grover norquist's. >> what i said was early on in your political career i may have -- i don't think i did but they get you. a young state legislator, there's this questionnaire and the questions are always framed rather easily yes. they're leading questions. and then once they got you, you're done. because they got you. and so the advice i would give -- >> to the young legislators -- >> even if it's a supportive group. i don't think taxes -- i don't

want to vote to raise taxes. even if it's tort reform, whatever the issue happens to be, be very careful. do not sign anything. do not give away your power. because -- >> it's not the plan. it's the primary. if you were running today, wouldn't you be worried about the primary the same way bob bennett, dick lugar? the list is on and on. >> the issues are so complex. it's like nuclear proliferation, abortion, abortion 50 times in congress on issues related to abortion, medicaid, obviously. partial birth. bypass. i can't literally take these huge, complex issues and have a pledge that covers everything. >> i want to actually go now to the other side of the equation which is on the one hand we're going to have the grover norquist pledge is the shiny metal object. we're in two weeks of doing -- we're all going to run in place until the smell of the jet fuel

from national airport starts making its way down to congress and they realize, oh, wait. >> and have a deal this week. there's that option, too. >> get done for the holiday break. once the 14th comes up, the progressive left, are they going to accept something about medicare in this deal at the end of the day? and will they grin and bear it now and then be more upset about it later? reaction of medicare, age going up, means testing. we've been talking about the tax issue. how will the left handle it? >> there's a false equivalence on some of these issues. i think people should be responsible, but here is the difference between taxes and medicare and social security issues which is there's strong support in america for revenues as part of this deal. revenues from the high end. the president -- there's actually a wedge. the reason why there are these

esh use is there is a wedge between the majority of voters and the people who are going to primary voters and so that's a conundrum and why there is all this energy around the issue. most of the american people have strong support has strong support for taxes. on the issue of entitlements and medicare, you know, cap itself is put up forward on ideas of reforming medicare, strengthening medicare and getting savings out of medicare at $385 billion, which is a substantial amount of money. i don't think we should really be hitting low-income beneficiaries, that's not where we should get -- >> but a deal that includes some medicare changes, what about age? >> well, i think raising the age increases costs. i think it pushes costs on to companies and individuals. >> do you want to go to break? hold your thought. go to break. sneak the break in so we can have a real conversation before we do shameless plugs. trivia time, who holds the

record as the youngest and oldest governor ever. it was cecil underwood. he was 34 back in 1956, he won his second term 40 years later on the same day that he turned 74 years old. we'll be right back.

all right. i apologize, we were having an odd off-camera conversation about petraeus' poll numbers which are surprisingly high. on the issue of entitlements, the white house very clearly said we define entitlements as medicare and medicaid, not

social security. >> the big dollars are entitlements -- >> the health care versus social security. >> i think everything should be on the table. and means testing is pretty much -- >> become an acceptable thing. >> raising the age, it makes sense, we live longer. my point is you don't get very many dollars. play the class warfare stuff, the president did it brilliantly during the campaign. marginal tax rates, bush tax rates go away and you're talking about $80 billion in the next ten years. what needs to happen, the really heavy lifting with democrats is going to be entitlement spending. >> but the game is, the real math problem, it's 218, nothing else, 218, that's the number of house votes. can boehner get -- he may accept less than the majority a majority, but how much medicare can be put on the table before democrats lose 100? >> not very much. i don't have a nurl, but not very much.

>> people supported the president's position, they actually look at taxes. i think this argument about class warfare, people support raising revenues -- >> shameless plugs. that's all right, i'm running out of time. >> i've got to go back to my princeton beating harvard, coming back in the fourth period. it was a great win. we were behind 34-14, 12 minutes left -- >> that's a huge win. >> not shameless. doing great political coverage. you should check them out -- >> that's not a shameless plug. >> that's what i said. >> i'm not crazy about the name. i agree, the work is good, but the name -- >> the name. >> buzz feed -- sorry. i'm getting -- sounds like electroshock journalist therapy. anyway, go ahead. >> today at 11:30 senator durbin will be at center for american progress. and i'll be live streamed. >> thank you, that's it for this

daily run-on sentence of the "daily run don." coming up next chris jansing. il? four sixteen seventy six a month! okay, come with me -- we're gonna save you money. with straight talk at walmart, you get unlimited talk, text and data for only $45 a month per phone. would we get the same coverage? same coverage on america's best networks. you saved $146.76 by switching to straight talk. awesome! now you can afford to share your allowance with me. get the season's hottest smartphones like the samsung galaxy s2 and get straight talk with unlimited data for just $45 a month -- from america's gift headquarters. walmart. ♪ a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore.

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crest pro-health for life. so jill can keep living the good life. crest. life opens up when you do. good morning. i'm chris jansing. if you look quickly, it seems like another fight in washington. democrats and republicans who can't seem to agree, at least yet, over what to do about something that was really never supposed to happen. we're talking, of course, across the board, severe cuts to programs and tax increases that we now know as the fiscal cliff. let's take a look at what's really at stake. without a deal, taxes would go up for 98% of americans, 98%. the typical american family would pay about 2,200 more in taxes each year. that's according to the white house. and for the typical small business owner, they would pay at least that between 2,200 and